Q&A

In 1997, sovereignty over Hong Kong was passed from the United Kingdom to the People's Republic of China. Large demonstrations opposing China's authority began in the early 2000s in the port city, culminating with the 2019 protests and subsequent crackdowns by the Chinese government that made headlines around the world. Louisa Lim, author of "Indelible City," who grew up in Hong Kong and covered Hong Kong and China as a reporter for the BBC and NPR, talks about the history of British rule in Hong Kong and the relationship between Hong Kong and China since the 1997 handover. 

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Amy Gajda, professor of law at Tulane University in New Orleans and author of “Seek and Hide,” discusses the historic struggle in the United States between an individual’s right to privacy and the public’s right to know newsworthy information.

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Darlene Superville, White House reporter for the Associated Press and co-author of "Jill," talks about the life and career of First Lady Jill Biden. Ms. Superville discusses Jill Biden's involvement in Joe Biden's political career, her role as a teacher, and the causes – including working with military families – that she took up in the Obama and Biden administrations. 

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Archivist of the United States David Ferriero is retiring this spring after nearly 13 years in office. Appointed by President Barack Obama and confirmed in 2009, he is the 10th archivist to oversee the National Archives as well as the nation's now 15 presidential libraries. During his tenure, Mr. Ferriero presided over a digital transformation of how archival material is collected and preserved. And it was under his leadership that the Archives debuted "Remembering Vietnam," its first-ever exhibit on that divisive conflict. Mr. Ferriero, a veteran of that war, served as a U.S. Navy hospital corpsman. He talks about his accomplishments and challenges at the Archives and the work that remains for his successor.  

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Author & journalist Matthew Continetti talks about the history of the American right-wing since the early 20th century. He says that a populist strain challenged mainstream conservatism several times over that period, ultimately triumphing with the election of Donald Trump in 2016. Mr. Continetti is also a senior fellow at the American Enterprise Institute and founding editor at the Washington Free Beacon.

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During discussions over the reunification of Germany in 1990, U.S. Secretary of State James Baker told Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev that NATO would not expand eastward. "Not one inch," Baker assured Gorbachev. In the lead-up to the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Vladimir Putin used those words to suggest that the U.S. and NATO were not interested in peace and could not be trusted. Mary Sarotte, professor of history at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies and author of "Not One Inch," talks about the 1990 comment and the impact that NATO expansion since then has had on U.S.-Russia relations.  

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April 15th, 2022, marks the 75th anniversary of the day that Jackie Robinson broke the color barrier in Major League Baseball. Since 2004, April 15th has been known in the baseball world as "Jackie Robinson Day," in honor of the Brooklyn Dodgers player. We talked with Kostya Kennedy, former senior writer for Sports Illustrated, about Jackie Robinson's life and career. In his new book "True," Mr. Kennedy writes about four significant years in Robinson's life: 1946, when he started in the minor leagues; 1949, when he was named National League MVP; 1956, his final year playing baseball; and 1972, the year of his untimely death.     

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In his will, Benjamin Franklin left 1000 pounds sterling each to the cities of Boston and Philadelphia. The money was to be loaned out, in small increments and at low-interest rates, to tradesmen who wanted to start their own businesses. Franklin estimated that even with a small rate of return, the trust fund would grow over the years and both cities would end up with large windfalls by the end of the twentieth century. University of Pittsburgh professor Michael Meyer, author of "Benjamin Franklin's Last Bet," discusses Franklin's micro-lending scheme and assesses its legacy.       

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If Judge Ketanji Brown Jackson is confirmed by the Senate, we will have the most diverse Supreme Court in U.S. history. University of Tennessee law professor Benjamin Barton, author of "The Credentialed Court," argues that while this is true on the surface, a closer look suggests that there is a "radical similarity" among the justices – especially when considering their educational and career paths after graduating high school. He has spent the past 12 years studying the backgrounds of Supreme Court justices throughout history and says that the justices today come from more elite circles and have much narrower experiences than their predecessors did, leading to a kind of group-think that is often overlooked when examining the court.          

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The title of the book "The Year That Broke America" refers to the year 2000, when an immigration crisis captured the headlines, Donald Trump ran for president, and Al Qaeda operatives arrived in the U.S. to learn to fly. Author Andrew Rice, a contributing editor at New York magazine, discusses the events of that year, which started with the fear of a global computer meltdown and ended with a fight over one of the closest presidential elections in U.S. history.    

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